DESIGN CRITERIA OF SHP PLANTS WITH SHUNT LOAD GOVERNOR

Abstract

The exploitation of hydro power sources of smaller capacities is essential for developing the energy need of remote areas, where the cost of power transmission from the grid will be excessive. However, such potential exploitation may not be economically viable as the capacity of hydro power plant decreases the generating cost per unit increases. Hence, to make it economically more viable, the methodology and technology applied must be different from that applied to larger hydro plant. In view of this, use of shunt load governor has been proposed. The shunt load governor controls the electrical load rather than the water flow and thereby keeping the flow constant throughout the operation. The constant flow allows elimination of guide vanes of turbines and water hammer effects. The elimination of water hammer effects allows cost reduction in connected civil works also. In the present work, attempts have therefore, been made to discuss the reliability of shunt load governor. It has been found that recent advances in large scale integrated technology greatly reduces the component count and improve reliability. Attempts have also been made to identify and evolve new design criteria for those elements, which are affected by the introduction of shunt load governor. It has been found that the affected components are forebay, penstock, turbine, generator and governor. Based on the developed design criteria, cost analyses of each affected component have been carried out and their cost functions are developed. A worksheet model based on these cost functions has been developed and thereby the overall cost reduction is obtained. It has been found that a significant cost reduction about 20% to 45% can be achieved by the introduction of shunt load governor. A case study has also been made for design of Leiva micro hydro power project with shunt load governor. It has been found th